In 2011, there were 515 homicides in the Big Apple, compared with the 431 in Chicago.

But as the Washington Post noted, residents of Chicago and New York were much less likely to be victims of a homicide than some Michigan residents. In Flint, for example, there were 63 killings — a staggering number when you consider Flint's population is 101,632 — "meaning 1 in every 1,613 city residents were homicide victims." In Detroit, where 386 killings occurred in 2012, 1 in 1,832 were homicide victims.

Guns were used in the vast majority of slayings in the United States last year. According to the FBI data, 69.3 percent involved a firearm.

Overall, violent crime — homicides and aggravated assaults — was up less than 1 percent in 2012, according to FBI data.

There was some good news in the report. The estimated number of burglaries declined 3.7 percent in 2012, and property crimes (down 0.9 percent) fell for the 10th straight year.